chuck_35550

Are you using the pour pot in a double boiler? Melting in the Presto and then pouring into the pour pot and keeping it at the temp you want in a pot of water? If so, buy a single or double electric eye unit at wally world (the eyes are covered) and keep a thermometer in the pot. I use a tempered glass coffee pots and they hold up fine. HTH Steve

Magic?

I received a case of wax in a Green Giant cardboard box that was pretty beat up. The wax was in terrible condition, so I contacted the seller and asked them when did they start shipping in Green Giant boxes? There was the sound of gnashing teeth and I was told that when some carriers damage a box, they re-box it and ship it on to the customer. I was not charged for the wax and received another case of wax on the house. This time the wax was boxed correctly and the wax was pristine in a plastic bag. HTH In response to your statement about the 6006; some soy harvests yield (due to drought conditions) a poorer bean and the wax can be brittle. You can add a little petrolatum to soften the wax (sometimes called sticky wax) . HTH Steve

Why would anyone want a product that smells like a puppies' breath? How could one reproduce that odor? Um no.

I'm occasionally tempted to go back to the J waxes but they just don't float my boat like a parasoy. The coloration is beautiful with paraffin but I hate the soot with heavy bakery fragrances.

You want to go to http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/ for a scale. CB is right. Those kinds of increments will cost you a pretty penny. I use the KD 7000 and it is a great scale. HTH Steve

No.

KY Parasoy Tart and Votive blend from Aroma Haven.

I use Vanilla Voodoo as a mixer. Vanilla Bean Noel is more of a vanilla bean fragrance, although some folks still like warm vanilla sugar. Lots of folks like NGs Mrs. Clause Cookies but to be honest; I have yet to smell a perfect sugar cookie fragrance. Be warned that Vanilla Voodoo will have some solid white bits in the bottom which will go away when you warm up the fo. HTH Steve

I tested 6006 in every kind of formulation and found that the 85/15 formula accomplished two goals. Improved the jar wall adhesion and the hot throw. I try to pull the wicks tight and straight in the jar and pour into room temp jars at 185 degrees. The jars cooled at room temp and were not covered. I would use the 464 to mix and try 6 to 7% fo load. Fragrance Buddy has a duplication of Royale Sugar Cookie that is supposed to be pretty good. HTH Steve

I'd pour hotter and make sure your wick is snug. Try 15% soy and see what you think. HTH

Oh wow, you got to try Dickens Christmas from Community Candle. I have a feeling this one is going to do well.

I started with a kit from Cajun candles. It was a votive kit that had 12 molds with wick pins, color, wicks, wax and choice of fragrance oils. It was successful and fun. Not to mention the cost was reasonable, even with shipping. Now some 9 years later and thousands of dollars of stuff and a full basement/lab of materials; I am still pursuing the perfect candle. Wholesale and retail accounts are a lot of work for one guy but its paid for most of my obsession. Consider a kit and start slow. Steve

I use an 18 in that jar with my parasoy but have never been able to use the 20 because of the high flame off of it. The true test will be the last half of the burn. I would be careful and place the jar on a heat proof tile. That puppy is going to get real hot toward the end. Midway through the jar is when the flame will be drafting a lot of air and you should see flickering, some smoking and probably a deeper melt pool. I really wanted the 20 to work for me but the flame scared me off. Let me know how the test goes. Steve

I'm with Chris. My parasoy (Clarus 3022) is good the next day. That being said, the candle only gets better with time.

Gosh Babs, you're soaps are always so awesome.

I think the hanger tool from Brambleberry may be the same thing as a gear tie. It is a straight coated rod that can be bent to fit any mold. It works quite well and was pretty cheap too. I like a chop stick for regular swirling.

It's because the jar is tapered. Wider at the top and narrow toward the bottom. You want a straight sided jelly jar. HTH Steve

I'm changing jars. I picked up ten cases of 9 ounce straight sided jars with shiny black lids from Community Candle. Love them and they are so cheap! They perfectly fit into some white boxes I had purchased some time ago (3 inches wide, 3 inches deep and 4 inches tall). The only problem is I don't remember where they came from and can't find the bill of sale. They're flat folding with tucked in tops and single units. Any help on locating similar boxes would be greatly appreciated. Steve

I prefer the cd wicks over the zincs. The construction of the cd wicks handles the corrosive veggie wax and doesn't clog like the zinc wicks. Combustion of the blended waxes and the components of fragrance oil can be a challenge for any wick combination but it seems that cd or cdn wicks provide the best results. I find them to be the most predictable in how they respond to whatever type of fragrance oil I use. Bakery oils compared to most floral or herbal oils are noticeably different because of the vanillin required to duplicate most bakery scents. I always look at the vanillin percentage and bypass oils with high rates. They're going to be problematic in finding correct wicking, which makes them more unpredictable in performance.

I use 15 ounces of wax with one ounce of fragrance oil for a full pound. This gives me two 8 ounce candles which are loaded at a rate slightly over 6%. I divide 15 into 1 and get .066%. So that ounce of fragrance oil is 6% of the 16 ounces. HTH

I suppose that if you used the heat gun in a fixed position over the wick, rather than moving the gun side to side; that the integrity of the wick was compromised. You burnt off the outside of the wick and there wasn't enough wick for the initial burn. That would make sense if eventually the wick was able to catch up and burn correctly. Does that seem possible?

True Lavender from Tennessee. Lavender and Vanilla is one of the most common mixes IMO. I've heard Lavender called and "Old Lady" scent but remember that Lavender shows up in a lot of aromatherapy mixtures. Lavender is thought to be calming and aid in sleep. I like it mixed with a touch of baby powder. Lavender Mac Apple is another favorite. HTH

I have three different cutters in my shop now. This baby takes a lot of room and is heavy but its what I wanted all along. Sometimes soap will turn out to need a specialty cut because of design or I want to use my slabs without bar inserts. Etsy made this happen so easily and the shop owners were so nice. So until the next big thing for soaping, this should do it for awhile.

Stick with the 6006 and try 12 ounces with 4 oz of pure soy. Pour at 185 degrees into clean, room temp jars. That jar should do well with a 16 cd and a fo load of 6%. HTH